The invention relates to a folded incontinence article in pants form for absorbing bodily excretions.
The following discussion of related art is provided to assist the reader in understanding the advantages of the invention, and is not to be construed as an admission that this related art is prior art to this invention.
Incontinence articles in pants form principally differ from openable and closable incontinence articles in conventional diaper form, in that the waist circumference is already predetermined by the pant form, and the adjustment to different body sizes based on a number of basic sizes is achieved in that the article can be elastically stretched. For this, elastifying means, in particular the form of bands or threads, often also referred to as Lycra-bands are usually connected in pre-tensioned state (Stretch-Bond method) to chassis materials of the incontinence article i.e., they are fixed in a pre-tensioned state on the chassis materials for example by means of glue. Due to their pre-tension, these elastifying means bundle chassis materials together, thereby forming plications, which typically extend transverse to the direction in which the elastifying means are pre-tensioned, i.e. in this case in longitudinal direction of the article. The incontinence article or the elastified chassis materials of the incontinence article can then be elastically stretched again when the user puts on the incontinence article like a pant. In contrast, the chassis materials themselves are preferably not stretchable and can therefore be transported in a flat or even spread out state in the transport plane in a well defined manner, so that the elastifying means can then be attached with a well defined pre-tension.
Pant-shaped incontinence articles of the type here discussed are typically folded by the manufacturer and distributed to whole sellers or the end user in folded configuration, usually in foil bags with at least ten pieces.
As a result of the pant form, an incontinence article of the type discussed here already has a first folding axis in lateral seam regions after connection of the stomach section and the back section, which folding axis extends through the crest in the crotch of the pant. This first folding axis is formed in the manufacturing machine, and typically forms the first folding axis for the incontinence article which has to be folded further for distribution.
Because it is sought to realize a volume-efficient arrangement when folding the incontinence article preferably directly after its manufacture and separation in an endlessly operating manufacturing line, it was proposed to avoid multiple transverse foldings of the absorption body, for example in EP-A-123069 B1, JP-A-11-113956. According to EP-A-1 639 908 A1, two further foldings, which extend in transverse direction are required in addition to the first folding axis in the crest of the crotch region, likewise according to WO-A-2011/095908.
According to EP-A-1 140 662 a varying thickness in a folded the article is to be compensated in the packaging bag in that the article are arranged inverted in the stacking, likewise in EP-A-0 780 325 B1.
It would therefore be desirable and advantageous to provide a pant shaped incontinence article so that it can be folded optimally for distribution for sale, wherein overall a compact and evenly thick shape of the folded article and stack shaped arrangements formed therefrom which are then repackaged, can be realized.